'Ravished Armenia' In Film -nyt19190215

'RAVISHED ARMENIA' IN FILM

Mrs. Harriman Speaks at Showing of Turkish and German Devastation

FEBRUARY 15, 1919

Many persons prominent in society attended a private showing of "Ravished Armenia," the official photo-drama of the National Motion Picture Committee of the American Committee for Relief in the Near East, held yesterday in the east ballroom of the Hotel Commodore. The regular showing starts tomorrow afternoon at the Hotel Plaza and will be continued for ten days.

The first half of the picture consists of four reels of scenes showing Armenia as it was before Turkish and German devastation, and led up to the deportation of priests and thousands of families into the desert. One of the concluding scenes showed young Armenian women flogged for their refusal to enter Turkish harems and depicted the Turkish slave markets.

Auror Mardiganian, whose experiences in Armenia furnished the story on which the picture was founded, and who was injured in an accident that occurred during the making of the picture, was carried into the ballroom on a chair.

Mrs. Oliver Harriman, Charman of the National Motion Picture Committee, delivered an address in which she said that Miss Mardiganian had come to this country because she was a typical case selected form among her people as one of many victims of the terrible desolation wrought in Armenia By the Turk. The young woman, said Mrs. Harriman, established direct contact between a stricken people and a generous human America.

"The whole purpose of the picture is to acquaint America with ravished Armenia," said Mrs. Harriman," to visualize conditions so that there will be no misunderstanding in the mind of any one about the terrible things which have transpired. It was deemed essential that the leaders, social and intellectual, should first learn the story, but later the general public shall be informed. It is proposed that before this campaign of information is complete, as many adults as possible shall know the story of Armenia, and the screen was selected as the medium because it reached the millions, where the printed word reaches the thousands."